It's starting again, and I don't want it to. Damn it all. He's another one of those dangerous gifts from heaven that a smart girl should know enough not to get mixed up with or taken in by. Why me? Why did Jake have to pick me? I was doing fine. I made up my mind to forget men until I gained my career goals—or at least until I reached thirty-five. Then I'd get married and have kids.
Standing by the hammock ten minutes ago, his arms around her, the same hot sizzle she experienced with Jake years ago whirled through her. When he kissed her, she melted. Her hormones had turned on her again, firing her senses like an iron poker, stirring up a new raging inferno inside her and igniting her nerve endings. She sure didn't need a dildo here and now. She wanted a sexy, alive male pushing her buttons, opening her senses wide and awake, and plunging inside her, and bringing her the wonder of shining starbursts exploding in the Milky Way and beyond. She'd felt the gush of dampness between her thighs even as she and Jake had kissed.
Always, with her college amours, she'd held something back, some part of her that wouldn't make her devastatingly vulnerable to her wildest emotions. That had been the case too with Grady, when they lived together. Even after they'd tied the knot, Roxy wanted … needed … absolute trust and love from her partner to release her from any carnal inhibitions. And look. Just now she'd been ready to give Jake her all.
God help her. How stupid!
Why did her damn hormones surge out of control now? Was it the recent heat wave that brought on the unmanageable lust boiling through her? Or was it simply seeing Jake again and having him come on to her?
Oh God, it was enough to drive someone to drink. Wasn't that how she got into trouble the first time? Drinking too much wine? She gave up serious drinking and rarely imbibed unless it was to nurse a single glass of wine at a business luncheon. But she could use a drink right now to cool down—something a lot stronger than lemonade or cola. Jake Plummer and his seductive kisses had her nerve endings writhing like the live earthworms her father used for bait.
The man must have some strange hold over me, like when I met him as a raw-boned teenager. I knew the powerful attraction he exerted on my psyche then, so I made a wide berth around him. Well, at least until that one starry night—the one I never forgot.
If it were possible, she'd give anything for some tender, educated, caressing, slow stroking to bring her to orgasm, and powerful probing to take her over the edge.
But that wasn't going to happen.
* * * *
Roxy had known right away when he showed up on the night of her birthday bash that Jake had come to her party alone. She'd spotted him wandering down the dirt path to the water out of the corner of one eye. A number of party guests were playing near the shore of Mirror Lake. Some of the more athletically inclined guests had formed two teams for a water polo game in the shallows. Roxy was one of the players. The game was girls against the fellas. The water was hip high, and she wore a two-piece bathing suit. Her generous boobs bounced like good-sized softballs under the flimsy bra as she jumped up and down like the rest of the adolescent girls on her team. Meanwhile, other scantily dressed gals paddled around in huge, inflated, rubber inner tubes. Every now and then, Roxy checked that everyone was having a great time.
She didn't know Jake wore his swimming trunks under his jeans until he stripped down, dropped the pants on the dock, dove in, and swam across the cove. When he started back, he halted a distance from the Diamond's dock, turned over on his back, and floated on the surface. When the game ended, Roxy headed his way.
He hadn't paid attention as she came up beside him. "I didn't know you were invited, Jake," she said, reaching him.
"I wasn't." Abruptly, he dropped his feet under the surface so that they faced one another, scissoring their legs and doggie paddling to stay afloat. "I crashed your shindig, same as a couple of other guys. I felt like taking a swim, so here I am."
"Hah!" she said, skepticism lifting the eyebrows on her forehead. She flicked away a strand of her wet, blond hair where it stuck to her cheek. "But it's okay, Jake. Open House means anyone can pop in whenever they feel like it."
"Glad to hear that, because I sure won't stay where I'm not wanted."
Roxy examined his expression along with his words. She noticed the arrogant male pride flashing in his eyes and knew he meant what he said.
This was her party, however, probably the last one she'd attend in Miradale before she left for college. She'd miss the lake and her friends. Maybe it was time she softened her attitude and at least made friends with Jake Plummer. After all, he never did anything bad to her; he just made her uneasy and unsettled.
"I'm glad you came, Jake," she compromised. "You're welcome here. There's lots to eat and plenty to drink, so come on back in when you're ready, and join the rest of the crowd. I'm going to check if everything is ready on the patio."
She turned and stroked back toward the shore with him swimming abreast of her. She went ahead, leaving him on the dock to dry off.
The sun was dipping behind the hills surrounding the lake when Roxanne spoke with her mother. "Everything is ready, Roxy," Cecelia said, taking her aside. "The hamburgers and franks were just put on the grill. Better call everyone up to start eating. Your father and I will get out of your way. We're due at cocktails and dinner at the Conway's in town. I'm sorry, honey, that we have to leave you by yourself. But the caterers know what to do, and my meeting with those bigwigs about putting their house on the market is important to us all. It means a sweet commission when it sells." Cecelia kissed Roxy's cheek and went toward the house to hustle her husband to their appointment.
After most of the food had been eaten and the caterers had cleaned up the leftovers, the dancing began. Almost all the girls except Roxy had changed into jeans or shorts and a top. The fellows had simply pulled T's or sweatshirts atop their swimsuits. The night was comfortable, not hot nor too chilly. The loudspeaker had been set up and music blared from the house's basement onto the patio where an open space had been cleared for dancing.
At first, the choice of music was fast and fun, young bodies gyrating with the rhythm. A bit later, someone changed the station and less hectic, dreamier music slowed young, amorous bodies to sway and hug close in each other's arms. Someone had brought in a jug of wine from his vehicle. Even Roxy grabbed a full glass and downed it when she grew thirsty.
Seeing Roxy unoccupied, Jake swung an arm around her waist and brought her close against him. They started to dance. She felt herself stiffen when he embraced her. Every nerve ending in her body was on alert as he touched her.
"Relax, Roxy," he whispered close to an ear. "You're supposed to enjoy yourself, right? I'll make sure you have a good time if you let me. Okay?"
The lights on the patio were very dim, and she couldn't read his eyes, but she saw he was smiling. He pulled her even closer; their bodies melded from shoulders to knees. She felt the hot lump of his male sex resting low against her stomach. Her heartbeat accelerated. Jake's hips, pressing against her mound, had her realizing she was growing horny, too. Slowly, gradually, she reached up and hung her forearms over his shoulders, tickling his nape with her fingertips where his inky hair curled in ringlets against it. Next, she laid her cheek flat against his hard, muscular shoulder, and closed her eyes with what sounded to Jake like a contented sigh. "Mmm. This is nice, Jake," she said.
"Yeah. I like it, too. You feel real good next to me." He gazed down at the top of her head and asked, "Can you feel what you're doing to me, sugar?"
She tilted her head, raising her lips to graze them against the warmth of his neck. She remembered feeling him twitch when she stuck out the tip of her tongue and licked his skin. His masculine growl was erotic and low as he nuzzled her forehead with his mouth. When she looked up at him again, he kissed her. And he kept kissing her, with open-mouthed kisses, until she was forced to pull away. She was breathless; heat singed her cheeks while her libido flamed higher. She had hid her face against his shoulder so no one woul
d see what she was feeling. Meanwhile, they swayed slowly to the music, rubbing their bodies together, not moving from the same spot on the patio.
"Why don't we go some place private?" Jake had suggested, his voice dark and intense.
When she looked around, she noticed the party was breaking up.
"No. Not now," she remembered sighing. "I have to say goodnight to everyone first."
"Okay. But I'm not leaving. Not yet," he told her.
She walked the last stragglers out to their cars and waved them goodnight. She saw the Plummers' work truck parked farther down the road, almost hidden from view.
When she returned to the patio, Jake met her and drew her into his arms. They kissed and clung together, their bodies reacquainted to the magnetism that had drawn them inevitably since their first meeting five years before. Fiercely, they wrapped arms around one another as if it were possible to crawl into the other's skin and become indivisible.
"Where can we go, Rox?" He rasped his upper teeth against the skin of her neck. Raw animal heat and a powerful need curled the bare toes in his leather sandals while he captured her in his embrace.
She knew she had been the one who whispered the invitation so they could be alone.
"Let's go to the boathouse, Jake."
Suddenly opening her eyes and returning to the present, Roxy rubbed her flushed cheeks and looked down at the container of yogurt sitting in front of her on the kitchen table. She came alive then, stirring the red raspberry fruit and scooping out a rounded spoonful. She sucked the creamy yogurt between her lips, savored it, and swallowed slowly.
She stared through the single window in the tiny laundry area, deep in thought. She flinched again when she remembered she'd made the first move so Jake would make love to her.
She had stepped into the rowboat she used to paddle out to her sailboat. It was tied next to a narrow dock inside the boathouse. Pulling the pile of floating pillows from where they were stashed under the bow, she placed them on the boat's bottom, then braced her back against the bow. "Come in here with me," she told Jake. He jumped down, rocking the boat, but ended up on his knees on the cushions, straddling her hips when he landed above her. He quickly leaned forward and started kissing her again. When he sat up and filled his hands with her breasts, rubbing rough caresses over her nipples until they grew hard, she sucked in an audible breath. She didn't stop him because it felt so good. "Oh, Jake," she murmured. "Keeping doing that."
The petting grew heavier as the French-kissing became hotter, wetter, and wilder. He plunged his tongue into her mouth, driving her deeper into lust with his tongue and his hands. She recalled her backside squirming restlessly against the cushions beneath her, her thighs opening. She must have begged him aloud and with her body to finish the job, because he understood.
She remembered him reaching behind her and undoing her swimsuit bra, yanking it over her head and baring her breasts to the cool night air. A light breeze wafted across her chest, blowing over the waves in the cove. The sensitive skin of her breasts tingled, her nipples puckered, even though she couldn't see them in the dark. There was only a small amount of moonlight filtering through the boathouse's open arches. When Jake rubbed his warm palms over her breasts and nipples, more vivid sensations shot between her legs to her sexual center. She knew she was wet there, and she knew why, having learned that information from health class.
"Your skin is so smooth, so soft and warm, Roxy." He had bent down and sucked a nipple, and she almost went crazy from the pull of his lips.
"God, Jake, it feels so good." She choked out the terse demand, "Please, don't stop."
Nevertheless, he had stopped. He rose and stood and took off his trunks. In a minute he was kneeling between her legs, naked, lifting her thighs and hips and pulling off her swimsuit bottom until they were both completely bare.
The next memory brought her up sharp. She dropped the spoon and closed her eyes tight.
If only I had let him finish. I was so stupid and naïve. Yes, it hurt, but not for long, and somebody else would have done the same damn thing when I got to college.
Jake had pushed her legs wide and poked his very impressive cock inside her in one swift, unexpected thrust.
She remembered yelling his name, telling him that he hurt her and to stop. But he must've been too far gone to stop. He had pushed and pulled out of her several times before he spurted his semen on her stomach. She remembered the potent smell of sex, the sticky mixture of semen and blood that dribbled down her legs later.
Pushing Jake away, she got up and somehow jumped out of the boat, and ran up the path to the house stark naked. Thank God, her parents had waited to return until a little later. In the bathroom she washed away Jake's semen and a small amount of her blood, then jumped into her bed and turned off the light.
She never knew if Jake had encountered her parents while he was on his way out.
Chapter Six
Roxy donned her new swimsuit, grabbed a towel, put on her sunglasses, and headed to the boathouse. Once in the rowboat, she rowed to her sailboat where it was moored, climbed aboard, pulled up the single sail and was on her way across the cove. The early afternoon sun sparkled like glittering jewels; a light, cooling breeze meandered across the waves. Ripples broke gently over rocks piled haphazardly on top of one another in the shallows. She remembered watching her father fly-casting from the rowboat in that same spot.
She threw back her head and tilted her face toward the sun's warmth. At the same time, a teasing wind lifted the hairs on her forearms and blew heavier, golden strands over her forehead.
God, it felt so good to relax.
Roxy tacked back and forth across the cove until she was on the wide stretch of open water. She waved to several other sailors plying their way along the length of the lake.
It was nearly two hours later, close to four-thirty, when she finally dropped the canvas sail, wrapped it up tightly so it didn't flop into the water, and rowed back to the boathouse. Good thing, she thought, that she'd slathered on sunscreen she kept in the sailboat, or she'd have a prickly, painful sunburn. The sun had been unusually strong, especially reflecting off the lake.
Walking slowly up the path to the house, Roxy wondered aimlessly if Jake had finished fixing the leak and left. But when she reached the patio, she saw he was sprawled on a padded, double chaise, waiting for her.
"Are you finished?"
"Not quite," he said, rising from where he lay.
"Jake, it's only a little after four. Why didn't you finish the job today and have tomorrow to do what you want to?"
"I have other plans. One of which is spending some time with you."
"Oh? Is that so?"
"Yup." He moved to where she had halted as she came off the path. "You know, Roxy, you could drive a guy wild in that swimsuit. Or out of it, I should say," he commented, as his gaze ran over her torso and stopped at her exposed belly button.
His expression let her know what he was thinking. "Put your eyes back in your head and keep your hands to yourself, Jake Plummer. Don't even think about it, because I'm warning you, I took some karate classes in the city just in case I came in contact with some smart aleck wolves like you."
"That right?"
To her his smile seemed too smug.
"Okay, Rox, how about this?" he asked. "Would you like to go out to dinner? Or should I bring in a nice, thick steak, a loaf of Italian bread, and some salad makings so we can spend the evening here together? You know, to get acquainted again?"
"Well, that's very nice of you, Mister Plumber's helper," she said, purposefully mispronouncing his name. "But that isn't necessary. I'm talented enough to make my own dinner."
"I'm sure you are, but it won't be nearly as much fun, hmm?" He hesitated for a second. Could it be she wasn't remotely attracted to him? He negated the thought immediately. He didn't think so, not after that kiss earlier today. Otherwise, he'd made a Grade A ass of himself by inviting himself to have dinner with her.
She rolled her eyes, a habit he remembered about her.
"A TV dinner will do me…"
"No way, Roxy. Invite me to stay. My treat."
"Jake…"
He glanced at his watch. "I'll get cleaned up and be back here at six sharp. Your family still owns a charcoal grill, don't they?"
"Yes, a propane one, but…"
"I'll even bring the charcoal." He winked at her and jauntily spun around to leave. "Six sharp," he reiterated, looking over his shoulder.
He sure had that sexy walk down pat, she thought, watching him saunter up the narrow path skirting the side of the house. She fastened her gaze on the trim, masculine rear end, gift-wrapped by his tight jeans. She'd seen him half-naked yesterday. Why was she now thinking about the other half? No lack of fantasizing eliminated the build-up inside her, driving her as itchy as hell. The reality was that fantasies weren't enough. She wanted the real man. She fought it and his damn animal attraction the same way she had when they'd been teenagers.
"I'll bring some wine, too," he called back to her.
And then he was gone. She heard him whistling as he strode toward the driveway.
Roxy dragged her attention from the dangerous path her thoughts had taken. "I'm not getting drunk. I'm not getting drunk. I'm not going to be a fool again with Jake Plummer, no matter what." The mantra she kept repeating had a calming effect as she entered the basement entrance to the house. She repeated it a couple more times, went upstairs, took a shower and changed into appropriate clothing while she awaited his return.
* * * *
"Looks to me you've got a date tonight, Jake. Who's the gal?" John Plummer, Senior—known to the Plummer boys simply as "Grampa"—sat rocking in a chair on the wraparound porch of the large Victorian watching traffic whizzing by when Jake snapped open the screened door. "You look as shiny as a new penny."
The Plumber's Helper Page 4